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Tihar
The Tihar, spelled Tikhar in Metro Last Light, is a multi-stroke pneumatic air gun that was created from scrap by the Metro dwellers at some point after the Great War of 2013. Overview Despite some obvious shortcomings in comparison with conventional firearms in use today, the air guns seem to thrive in the Metro. With all the laws, limitations and regulations out of the window and with parts being readily available, weapons such as the Tihar are providing strong competition to actual firearms. The Tihar is extremely quiet and is capable of silently bringing down enemies from surprisingly long ranges. It carries fifteen 15 mm ball bearings in a tubular spring-fed magazine. The ammunition is propelled by a cylinder of compressed air placed inside the stock of the gun, which attains its pressure by a handpump at the end of the handguard. A pressure gauge mounted on the right side of the weapon shows how much relative stopping power and distance the next shot will have, with each shot draining a small amount of air from the reservoir. It is possible to overpressure the cylinder for extra stopping power and range, but the extra air will leak out eventually and the gun will go back to normal power levels. In Metro: Last Light, it can be modified to stop the air from leaking. The sound of the gas leak will not give your position away to the enemy. In Metro 2033 the very first Tihar is available as early as the Lost Tunnel level. It can be picked off a corpse in the dead end side tunnel near the exit from Riga station. In Last Light it appears that the Tihar is being phased out by the new version "Tihar-M" ("M" stands for модернизирован, commonly used for "improved" in Russian weapon designations), as indicated by the production markings. All versions of the gun that Artyom comes across were produced by "Blacksmith Prokhorov" in 2030, which is stamped on the side. Tihar-M's performance remains largely unchanged in comparison with Tihar from Metro 2033. It's biggest improvement is probably the wider range of customizations. History It comes as a considerable surprise to most present-day gun enthusiasts that shooters have used airguns for hundreds of years. The first airguns were lung powered blowguns which date back at least to 125 AD,Arne Hoff. 1977. Windbьcshsen Und Andere Druckluftwaffen. 105 pp. Parey, Hamburg & Berlin. and probably hundreds, or even thousands of years, before that. The origin of mechanical airguns also is by no means clear. Evidently more than one early inventor thought of using bellows to replace the human lungs as the power source. The oldest existing mechanical airgun apparently is a bellows gun, in the Livrustkammar Museum in Stockholm, which dates from about 1580. This gun used a spring-loaded bellows in the butt of the gun to provide a propulsive blast of air to a special dart when the trigger was tripped. Airguns which employed a spring to drive a piston, which also compressed air only at the moment of firing, appeared almost as early as the bellow guns. And, amazingly enough, it apparently was also about 1600 that the first pump-up airgun appeared - an experimental gun made for King Henry IV of France. Scoped Tihar By 1800 airguns were among the most accurate, and certainly among the most elite, of large-bore guns. The modern lack of awareness of such guns is understandable when one discovers that airguns were very uncommon, even then. Good airguns have always cost more to make than equivalent quality firearms. The special skills, knowledge, and great amount of time necessary to make the complex valves, locks and air reservoirs of the early airguns meant that only the wealthy shooters could afford them. All of the most powerful airguns of yesteryear were pump pneumatics. That is, pumping air into a strong valved reservoir which was attached to, or made part of, the gun, charged them. The pumps were sometimes built into the gun but were more often separate. Charging a reservoir could take hundreds of strokes of the pump, but the resulting air pressure, below 600 psi, evidently was very efficient.Tom Gaylord, 1998. The State of Big Bore Air Rifles in the US., pp. 26-37. Airgun Revue #3, GAPP Inc., Ellicott City, MD 21042-6329. The old airguns offered numerous advantages for those early shooters who could afford them. Some could be fired many times per minute - a striking contrast to the front- feeding powder burners. Such rapid fire was further more practical with airguns because they did not obscure their own line of sight with clouds of smoke. And, although the oft-told tale of their silence is not true, they are quieter than firearms of equivalent power and their lack of smoke and flash did help to make it more difficult to spot the marksman's position. An especially appealing feature was the great dependability of the airguns. Other advantages included lack of residual sparks, faster shot time, more consistent power, and extremely light barrel fouling. Certainly one of the most famous of the butt-reservoir guns was the Austrian military air rifle designed by Girandoni about 1779. Its buttstock also is a detachable air reservoir which could be quickly unscrewed when empty and replaced by a full one. Each reservoir held enough air to fire a series of 20 heavy lead balls fed from an ingenious rapid feed magazine. These formidable weapons could put out their 20 smokeless shots in a minute; it is reported that the .51" caliber (13mm) balls were deadly to 100 yards. A corps of 500 soldiers so armed had a potential firepower of 300,000 shots in a half-hour - incredible for military guns of the late 1700s. During this same period, and for almost a century to follow, big bore airguns were extremely popular with the wealthy sportsmen of Europe. The ultimate in mechanical airgun development was the fearsome aircanes with their jewel-like internal locks. Evidently no well-dressed English gentleman of the late 1800s would be seen without one of these weapons-which ranged from almost .30" to .49" in caliber and had perhaps the power of a modern police revolver. An interesting trans-Atlantic switch in airgun evolution occurred about the start of the 20th century. In America, the spring piston gun had developed to a fairly powerful and sophisticated level - especially in the form of expensive gallery guns popular after the Civil War.Eldon Wolff, 1958. Air Guns. 198 pp. Milwaukee Public Museum, WI. The pneumatics had reached a high level in Europe with the advent of the cased hunting sets, the air canes, and finally the first CO2 gun - the handsome and elaborate Giffard. The introduction of the firearm cartridge and smokeless powder killed the development of airguns as powerful guns. No longer could airguns properly be considered as arms or weapons. The evolution of the pump pneumatics and CO2 guns largely left Europe and appeared here as youth-level, low-power, mass-production guns, while in Europe spring piston airguns became extremely sophisticated and accurate target and light hunting small-bore guns. Tactics and Use 350px|right The Tihar has a wide variety of uses and is quite effective from the moment it's picked up. While its pneumatic firing mechanism requires constant pumping and causes the Tihar's damage to often become steadily weaker in pitched firefights, it's also undeniably effective in combat situations and has little trouble picking off enemies - human or mutant - at long range. In emergency situations, the Tihar can fire rapidly - while this uses up its comparatively small magazine quite fast and causes it to shed pressure quite quickly, this feature can, if the Tihar is fully-pumped when it cuts loose, cause considerable damage, making the Tihar quite effective when used indoors or at close-range. The Tihar's damage is directly tied to its pressure; if fully-pressurized, the Tihar's shots cause heavy damage and can frequently bring down a watcher in a single body shot. Unfortunately, this works both ways; if its pressure ratchets down too much, the gun is functionally useless, firing pellets that lack penetration power and have absolutely zero capability to cause damage to a target. Because of this, the Tihar should be fully pumped at all times or at least, keep the pressure meter above 6. You will know the gun is pressurized when you hear the gas is leaking. The Tihar also has great power and accuracy; it can usually kill with a single shot to the chest, making it easier to dispatch enemies wearing helmets or gas masks. When first found or exchanged, the Tihar will need to be charged before you can use it, or you will just wasting your ball bearings, same goes to Helsing and Volt Driver. Note that the Tihar, like the Helsing, hisses softly when over-pressurized. This hissing can be heard by enemies and can reveal your location if you get too close. Bear this in mind and keep your distance to maximize the Tihar's capabilities for stealth. One issue players may have with the Tihar is that the glass in its scope is somewhat cloudy and may cause problems with target definition, so players looking for a sniper-esque weapon may want to reconsider using the Tihar. A weapon equipped with the PK-AV scope may be better. The scope is not recommended for low-performance systems, using it will cause lags and the aiming will be very difficult. The Tihar faces stiff competition for its role as a suppressed weapon from the VSV, revolver with silencer, scope and stock, the Kalash 2012 with a silencer and scope, and perhaps most notably, the Helsing. The Tihar sets itself apart from these guns in a few ways; it is, by default, nice and quiet, it does not need valuable 5.45mm rounds and it has considerably better single-shot punch than the Kalash 2012 or revolver - and is generally more accurate than the Helsing. The Helsing is the Tihar's true rival, weapon-slot wise; both guns are pneumatic. The Helsing fires arrows while the Tihar fires small pellets. Also, you can recover the arrows you shoot with the Helsing. The Tihar make up for this though as its ammunition is the cheapest to exchange at kiosks. Also, the ball bearings are also more common to find than arrows. In Metro: Last Light, the Tihar is similar in function, yet the gun (and its ammo) are very uncommon in game, meaning the player might not use it. Players should buy ammo for it every time they visit ammo vendors if they intend to keep it, as it's a good weapon in stealth-based levels (without the need to purchase a silencer). Attachments *Airtight valve - Allows the weapon to be over-pressurised (needle in the red) without the air escaping over time. *2x Optical sight - Increased magification for sniping, uses its previous scope model from Metro: 2033. *Infra-red sight *Reflex sight *Laser sight Variants and Obtaining Metro 2033 Metro Last Light Facility - After entering the large room with the waterwheel, proceed to the bottom of the staircase. To the left is a set of lockers containing a Tikhar with x2 Scope attachment. Revolution - After the room with the armoured train, you will enter a room that will become filled with gas as part of an equipment test (requires gasmask). On the right side of the room is a ladder that lets the player cross the room by walking on pipes to get to the catwalks the left side of the room. Cross over to find a Tikhar with IR scope attachement on a crate to the left. Contagion - At the beginning of the level, in the room where the firing squad executes infected civilians, on a table along with a box containing NV goggles, is a Tikhar with reflex sight, laser sight and airtight valve upgrades. Depot - In the room at the top of the stairs where the player has a second encounter with Red soldiers (after the Baby Dark One opens the door for you) there is a locker halfway along the right side of the room holding a Tikhar with x2 scope. In the Chronicles Pack level, Pavel, you can find one with no attachments as soon as you enter the kitchen with the bandit practising with his knife. Related Achievements/Trophies Trivia * The word Tihar (Russian:Тихарь) means "silent one" * In Metro 2033 it is called Tihar. However, in Metro Last Light it is called Tikhar. This is due to there being no literal translation of the Russian name -Тихарь, as the cyrillic 'x' is not exactly the same as an English 'h'. It is common to use 'kh' as a different romanisation, neither is incorrect. * The Tihar has a rather obvious pressure gauge that is far easier to check than that of the Helsing. * The unique scope is actually 'open optics' - a line of three aperture glass sights, which also accomodate compensation for pressure dependent bullet drop. * A great way to gain a lot of military ammo is to sell the Volt Driver found when fighting the Bandits with Bourbon for a Tihar with a scope in Market Station. * In the concept art of the Tihar it appeared as it was originally to be fitted with a PK-AV sniper scope. * Despite being fairly common, a Tihar is never used by NPCs during gameplay. Intro cutscene, however, shows a soldier armed with one at the VDNKh fortifications. * If Artyom is left idle with the Tihar equipped he will examine the weapon and fiddle with the front sight on the gun. * Many would believe this gun is technically a silenced sniper rifle, frankly because of its range and none already existing in the game without DLC , but it is more of a carbine because of firing speed and lacking penetration power. The ball bearings bounce off, but remove armor. * Given the shape of the front grip and stock, the Tihar could have been build from a VSV. Bugs/Issues * The Tihar's scope can be hard to use at medium or lower resolutions, as the cross-hair lines are extremely thin, resulting in them "disappearing between the pixels" * The Tihar's scope may cause delays when used, making it very difficult to aim. Gallery Tihar_construction.jpg Tihar.jpg|Standard Tihar TharConceptArt.jpg Tihar with optics.jpg|Tihar with 2x optical sight References Category:Weapons Category:Developer Pack DLC Category:Chronicles Pack DLC